The right of self-government, according to this view, is a conditional universal right of free states. When a community, inhabiting a region of such territorial extent that it is not too large to make it possible for a just public sentiment concerning its affairs to be developed and executed, and not so small as to make it inconvenient that it should be in any respect free from external control, is of such moral and intellectual capacity that it can form and execute a just public sentiment concerning its internal affairs and its relations with other communities, states and nations, it has not only the right of free statehood,--that is, of political personality,--which is of universal right, but also the right of self-government. The right of such a free state to self-government is complete if there be no just political connection or union between it and other free states, or partial, if such a just connection or union exists, being limited, in this latter case, to the extent necessary for the preservation, in due order, of the connection or union. Independence was regarded apparently also, by the Declaration, when it declared the Colonies to be "free and independent states," to be a right superadded to the right of free statehood in some cases, and therefore to be a conditional universal right of free states--that is, a right universally existing where the conditions necessary to independence--great physical strength, and great moral and intellectual ability--exist. The Colonies regarded themselves as free states in such a just and rightful connection with the free and independent State of Great Britain as to form with it a union. From this it followed, inasmuch as this connection and union was conceived of as existing under a universal common law, that the State of Great Britain, through its Government, was the justiciary medium which connected the free states of that which they conceived of as the British-American Union, and as such applied the principles of this universal common law for preserving and maintaining in due order the connection and union. There, therefore, resulted the conception of Great Britain as what may perhaps be called "the Justiciar State" of this British-American Union. If we were to use the exact language of the Revolution, it would probably be more proper to speak of Great Britain as "the Superintending State" of the British-American Union, as the power of Great Britain over the Colonies was generally spoken of by the Americans as "the superintending power." Lord Chatham used this expression in his famous bill introduced in the House of Lords. The expression "Justiciar State," however, seems to be more scientifically correct. A Justiciar was an official who exercised the power of government in a judicial manner. His power was neither strictly legislative, nor strictly executive, nor strictly judicial, but was complex, being compounded of all three powers, so that his executive